More than 115,000 people have signed a new petition calling for the UK's new surveillance plans to be repealed.

The Investigatory Powers Bill (soon to be an Act) was approved by the House of Commons and House of Lords in November and will become law when it receives Royal Assent. It is expected to be approved by the Queen before the start of 2017, with temporary surveillance laws expiring in the new year.

Advertisement

What is the IP Act and how will it affect you?

Before it finally becomes law there is one final push from those opposed to the measures within the 300-page document to stop it happening. A petition started by Tom Skillinger has passed the 100,000 signatures needed to be considered for another debate in the House of Commons. As a result of the petition passing 10,000 signatures, the government must also issue a formal response to it.

Read next

Wednesday briefing: London's automated facial recognition system has never identified a criminal

ByWIRED

Standing at 118,588 names, at the time of writing, the petition says the IP Bill, dubbed the Snoopers' Charter by critics, was "snuck past the population in relative secrecy". It continues to say: "We can fix this before the UK is turned into a dystopian surveillance state."

This has been followed by one civil rights group saying the Bill was considered and debated while "the public, media and politicians were preoccupied by Brexit." The Open Rights Group, in a statement posted online, said: "Parliament may choose to ignore calls for a debate but this could undermine public confidence in these intrusive powers."

The powers described by those who oppose the bill include authorised government use of hacking powers (on phones, computers and servers), the bulk collection and retention of data, and also forcing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to store web browsing history for 12 months. Under the plans, ISPs would store the who, what, when and how, of every website a person visited.

The areas in the UK where people have signed the petition against the IP Bill

UK government petitions

Advertisement

"The UK has just legalised the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy. It goes farther than many autocracies," former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden said when the law was passed by Parliament.

The government says the IP Bill "radically overhauls the way these powers are authorised and overseen". It continues to say a new Investigatory Powers Commissioner will oversee how the law is implemented and a "double-lock" on interception warrants will be used to protect warrants being issued incorrectly.

At the time of publication the Home Office, which is responsible for the legislation, had not responded to WIRED's request for comment. This story will be updated when a response is received.